Thuli Nhlapo visits Johannesburg hospital, where male and female patients are forced to share a ward
The CEO of Johannesburg hospital has confirmed that “at times, especially in winter”, the hospital puts patients of the opposite sex in the same ward.
“We have a huge number of patients in this hospital. Currently we have a 110% bed occupancy. If we cannot admit a female patient, rather than send her home we put her in the holding ward with male patients and that is for only 24 hours,” says Sangie Pillay.
A few weeks ago in ward 567 on level six at the hospital, a male patient lay stark naked, tied to a bed with bandages. Nurses had wrapped a plastic bag around his penis. A sign on a wall behind his bed read “high care”.
No sheet or blanket covered his fragile-looking body from the cold. Pillay says: “The hospital is centrally heated, you know.”
A woman was in ward 567’s bathroom when a young man pushed the door open. After exchanging glances, the man closed the door and went back to his bed to wait his turn.
“Aagh! You know, this place is so bad. It is better to die at home than come here. How can we share a bathroom with women?” the man asks. He says he was admitted to the holding ward three days earlier.
A woman who collapsed in the toilet says nurses forced her to walk on her own because they said she was too young to depend on a bedpan.
“I was so afraid. The only thing that came to my mind was rape. Some of these boys are not that sick, so anything can happen,” she said.
Pillay’s response is: “The potential for rape is zero. Those patients are very sick and we have nurses in that ward on a 24-hour basis.”
Three days later the naked man was still in the holding ward. The bandages that tied him to the bed were no longer there. He looked relaxed while flipping the pages of a newspaper. Pillay says: “567 is a holding ward for just 24 hours. The patients are either discharged or moved to other wards, but there should not be people for more than 24 hours in that ward.”
When told about specific cases of patients who had spent more than three days in ward 567, Pillay said he could not comment on the matter because he wanted to investigate first.
At Johannesburg hospital food is no longer served on plates but brought in plastic containers that are not easy for patients to open.
A woman with a drip inserted into her arm constantly pulled the hospital gown to her chest and complained that the young man next to her was looking at her breasts. She had no visitors and needed help, but she refused to ask the nurses because they were “not nice”. She said she had not eaten the day before because she couldn’t open the containers.
“My ancestors brought you here. I was praying before falling asleep that my aunt should please come to visit me because I am so hungry and I need Vaseline inside my bag. I want to put it on my mouth,” she said.
I had just given her three spoonfuls of food when a nurse arrived and said it was time to take her temperature. The patient struggled to close her mouth, but the nurse did not seem to notice her difficulty.
“Hey you, woman, how do you think I can be able to take your temperature if you do not close your mouth? What is wrong with you? Shut your mouth,” the angry and tired-looking nurse shouted at her.
I went out of my way to be polite to the nurse and tried to explain the woman’s problem but the nurse gave me a dirty look before spitting venom.
“Is it your mother?” and I nodded. “You must come and feed her every day,” she said. Pillay says nurses always feed patients who cannot help themselves.
Pillay says in this financial year Johannesburg hospital has spent R1-million on linen alone. He says there are blankets in the hospital but it has a shortage of sheets because both staff and visitors take them home.
Patients in ward 567 bring their own sheets, duvets and blankets. A young girl lying on the plastic covering the mattress said she was waiting for her sister to bring her sheets.
On the other side of the ward a young man who had asked a nurse how to get to town and where to catch taxis was caught trying to escape. He was told he was going to be tied to his bed because he was not going anywhere.